Epidemia Mortal

There is something about movies like Invasion that I get a kick out of and admire is a small way. Material like this feels like a throwback to the fifties and sixies, the dawn of sci-fi. I suppose that judging by those standards, one could make the argument that Battlefield Earth is a success, which may not be such a smart thing to do aloud. Regardless, Invasion is very cheesy, but it is amusing.

One night over Arizona, a shower of little black stones rains down on a city. The first to fondle of these stone is Beau Stark, an ordinary law abiding fellow. The tiny thing gives him an electric shock and before long he has a flu, which is messing with his mind. As more people handle the black pebbles scattered across town, the flu starts to spread, first across town then across Arizona and eventually the country. Stark is rallying his fellow infected citizens together to become part of some major plan to build a gateway to space which will (somehow) spell doom for humanity as we know it. Stark's girlfriend teams upwith a handful of Rogue doctors to try an find a cure, while everyone around is out to get them.

So what makes something like Invasion any better than say Battlefield Earth? It's a tough argument to make, but not impossible. For one thing Battlefield Earth feels muddled and badly paced, while this more is more temporaly believable (on account of being a three part programme of course). Time duration is very important for the credibility of a thriller or adventure story. More importantly, in Battlefield Earth you really don't care what happens to people. Here you end up actually rooting for and against who you are supposed to.

There are times when Invasion feels a little slow, and there are definitely some things that need to be changed, but the programme in general, is a good source of cheesy B-movie sci- fi. I don't know where you would find something like this, and I doubt if it will get any airtime in the future, but if it just happpens to be on the box one night and there is nothing else on (assuming you are a sci-fi geek) may as well watch for a bit.

I only checked this out because the score was done by Don Davis, composer for the first 3 Matrix movies. You can definitely hear some proto-Matrix music here and it really lifts the material.

Expecting this to be a slog, it turned out to be pretty damn engaging, somewhat reminiscent of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and V (the original miniseries). What really amazed me is that they created a fairly decent alien invasion story with a TV budget. There are also deaths/conversions aplenty for costars, which ups the ante suspense-wise. Don't go in expecting Arrival or Independence Day, and I think it will be worth a slow night's watch.

A virus, presumably of extraterrestrial origin, takes over human beings.

By the numbers made-for-tv movie travels down well-known territory with few redeeming virtues. The familiar story is padded with mumbo jumbo galore and cheesy special effects. Even though the acting by most of the cast is decent, there is little else to be remembered.

Recommended only to desperate diehards craving for their sci-fi daily shot!!! With due respect to the canine breeds, skip this dog of a movie and go for the real thing. Rent out Don Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Village of the Damned and the underrated Independence Day or any of those wonderful campy sci-fi B-movies of the 50's... and treat yourself to a pleasurable Saturday afternoon and don't forget the right words: Klaatu barada nikto!

Rating: 2/10.because of beautiful locations.

I didn't see this miniseries in its original run in 1997, but watched it last week in a rerun on the SCIFI channel because of Robin's Cook's involvement. All of his work (books, screenplays, miniseries) has been consistently good. (Remember "Coma"?). This one was no different. I thought it was an interesting story, played seriously by a better than average cast. Luke Perry plays the leading man, the first to be infected by the alien virus, and his girlfriend (the extremely cute Rebecca Gayheart) who becomes the one to try to save him from it with the help of a molecular biologist in the person of Kim Catrall. As I enjoy most 'virus' type movies (Outbreak, The Stand), I enjoyed this one, too. I give it a 9 out of 10 for a TV miniseries.

As all other miniseries,this one is also a b-movie,but a b-movie doesnt necessary have to mean that it is a bad movie.It just has a lower budget and more unknown actors. This movie has actually gotten two actors which is quit famous,Luke Perry and Rebecca Gayheart. Luke Perry is known for his role in Beverly Hills 90210,and Rebecca Gayheart has played in movies such as,Scream 2,Urban legend 1 & 2 and From dusk til dawn 3.

The story is about a small rock who fell from the sky,nobody seems to know anything about it,but when someone touches it they get a virus who takes control of them.

The movie is scary at times and one of the better miniseries I have seen.